About hosts?

Thank you for such a comprehensive reply and explanation of howWWOOF Japan monitors both WWOOF and host.

Your organisation is impressive and we will be in contact closer tothe date we anticipate WWOOFing in Japan to pay our membership.

Kind regardsDebbie

Quoting WWOOF Japan <> on Sat, 21 Jul 200706:50:27 +0900:

Dear Debbie,

Thank you for your mail. We work closely with allour hosts to seethat they understand and practice, that they mustwork to see thatWWOOFers are happy and have meaningful learningexperiences whileWWOOFing at their place. All hosts report to usmonthly about theindividual WWOOFers they have had and plan to havenext month, thework the WWOOFers did, any problems experienced,and more. Thisdegree of attention to detail is unheard of inmost other WWOOForganisations, many organisations are in contactwith their hostsjust once a year to take payment from them, and ifthere arecomplaints. We do have rules and criteria forhosts and we aremonitoring hosts on a monthly basis. Theexplanation we have oneach hosts is comprehensive, some up to one pagelong. You can seesome of this degree of detail in the PreviewSection of ourwebsite. Having this much detail will help youthe WWOOFer know alot about the place you are going to. Many otherWWOOF organisationshave just a few lines, a phone number, name andaddress.

You can view a preview of our hosts on ourwebsite. You can join andpay online via our website. You can join nowand get fullmembership details now, but stipulate a date inthe future of yourchoice from when you want your membership periodto begin, andthereby have time to write to places that youthink you might like,to make plans before your membership periodbegins. Members haveaccess to bilingual forms (English and Japanese)to use to contacthosts.

Regarding visas, most people from overseas comeWWOOFing in Japanusing a normal tourist visa. WWOOFing is a meansof travel allowingmembers to meet local people and experience andlearn locallifestyles. You must NOT join WWOOF with a viewto get work, get avisa, earn money, and the like. Neither theWWOOF Japan office, norour hosts can assist in any way regarding visamatters.

Even if you are just wanting a means to networkwith people in Japan,or think you might use WWOOF for just a day ortwo, or are planningto stay in cities mostly, or only until you makeother plans, youmight consider joining in order to network andlearn of resources andopportunities, to find places to stay whiletraveling between cities,you might find a ride from one place to anotherthough one of ourhosts, etc. Most hosts will pick up WWOOFersfrom nearby publictransport and we do have hosts close to cities,Tokyo for example.Realize that it costs just 5,500 yen to join usfor one whole year -that's about 55 US dollars, 68 Australian, 40Euros which is thecost of a pizza in Japan, just one night at apension. And in termsof finding access to longer term resources,learning language, theculture, food production, cooking and other thingsJapanese in Japanthere can be few better situations than livingwith a Japanese familywho are likely to take a personal interest in youraspirations. Askyourself to what extent will you have genuine andmeaningfulexperiences in Tokyo or Osaka amongst theMacDonalds burger jointsand tourist traps with a million other lostforeign travelers. Ifyou spend even just a day or two WWOOFing it wouldbe the best 55 USdollars you would have spent on your travels.

To help us find your mail in the hundreds of SPAMmail we get eachday, write your name and WWOOF Japan in theSubject of your e-mail;Ie. "Tom Smith to WWOOF Japan". If you don'twant to write youname, then at least write the words "WWOOF Japan". As you will bynow know, we at the WWOOF Japan office conduct allcommunicationswith WWOOFers and Hosts via e-mail, and we do notuse the telephone.

Please let us know if you require any otherinformation or support.Cheers,WWOOF Japan++++Get below the veneer of tourism & away fromyour dailygrind and have genuine experiences with life inJapan++++